The Texas Republican had blocked earlier efforts to raise wages in the Northern Marianas, reportedly on lobbyist Jack Abramoff's behalf.
By Walter F. Roche
WASHINGTON — Billing it as a fitting "going-away present" for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), three Democratic House members Wednesday filed a bill to raise the minimum wage in the Northern Marianas and tighten immigration standards for the U.S. territory, which critics say has become a haven for apparel industry sweatshops.
Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), the lead sponsor, said DeLay repeatedly and corruptly blocked earlier efforts to impose U.S. labor and immigration standards, in order to help convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented the Pacific territory and textile firms there.
DeLay, the former House majority leader who was first elected to Congress 1984, will step down from his seat Friday. He faces a trial on campaign money-laundering charges.
"Let's give Tom DeLay a real going-away present," said Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-El Monte), who joined Miller and Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.) in filing the legislation.
Under the bill, the minimum wage in the territory, now $3.05 an hour, would be gradually raised to the U.S. level, $5.15 an hour. And manufacturers on the island would be barred from placing a "Made in USA" label on their clothing unless they met the new wage requirement and other U.S. workplace standards.
The measure would also eliminate the island territory's current exemption from U.S. immigration laws. That exemption has allowed apparel manufacturers to bring in thousands of low-wage workers from China, Thailand and the Philippines.
"For years, DeLay and Abramoff used their power and influence and corrupt practices to defend the indefensible," Miller said at a midday Capitol Hill news conference.
Noting that bills to raise the island wage passed the Senate repeatedly, only to be blocked by DeLay and his colleagues in the House, Miller said the Texas Republican and Abramoff were "running a protection racket." DeLay led some fellow representatives on a well-publicized trip to Saipan, the territory's seat of government, in 1998.
Abramoff and his lobbying firms collected more than $10 million in fees from garment manufacturers and the Northern Marianas government, according to lobbying reports and government documents. In e-mails made public last year, Abramoff bragged about his ties to DeLay and how they were working to block the wage bill.
Abramoff pleaded guilty this year to fraud, tax evasion and conspiring to bribe members of Congress.
DeLay did not respond to a request for comment.
But even as they cited "a window of opportunity" with DeLay's departure and called for prompt passage of their bill, which they called "the Human Dignity Act," one sponsor acknowledged it may be too little too late.
"The horse is really out of the barn," said Spratt, noting that many of the Saipan garment plants have shut down because the manufacturers, due to tariff changes, can now produce garments more cheaply in China.
And though Miller said there were millions of dollars available from a court settlement to help workers return to their home countries, court documents filed this week showed those funds had already been depleted.
Miller said the bill would help ease the situation by allocating $500,000 per year for five years for a job-retraining program.
Spratt, whose district was once in the heart of the U.S. apparel industry, said he was convinced the bill was "not too late" to help thousands of imported workers still in the territory.
Miller also charged that Abramoff was responsible for suppressing a 34-page Department of Justice report that warned of serious security risks because of the Northern Marianas' exemption from U.S. immigration laws. The report warned of similar security risks in Guam, another U.S. Pacific territory.
Calling the situation "a threat to the well-being of the general public," the report states that without improved security measures the territories would "seriously jeopardize the national security of the United States."
The report mentions the possibility of a terrorist attack on military personnel and assets in the two territories. Recently, U.S. officials announced plans to transfer thousands of U.S. troops from Japan to the Pacific territories.
Miller said Abramoff wanted the 2001 report suppressed because its release would have been against the interest of his clients, the garment makers, who benefited from the immigration exemption.
"That report was never released to Congress," Miller said, adding that Abramoff "used his cozy relationship" with then-U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft to find out about the report and then "quash it."
Aides to the former attorney general have previously denied those charges.